Cosmic Dreams:
The sleeves of both Cravinkel records only stated their last names and contained no further information about these four guys. Cravinkel (1970) had short tracks with a firm country rock touch, which I think was a bad Idea... In fact, the album was recorded in London at the IBC studios and produced by Rainer Goltermann (Phillips' "house producer"). The album came in a poster fold-out cover which showed the band lazing in a haystack. Garden Of Loneliness (1971) had a single cover (nice psychedelic artwork on the front!), but enclosed a poster. Their music had by now become heavier and more "progressive" (which can be defined as: "longer tracks, more time for instrumental work, and generally better albums"). Side two had a 20 minute jam session called "Stoned", an apt title! It was quite a change from their first one, but indeed a logical development. This album too was a Goltermann production. There is also an obscure single from 1971: "Keep On Running" coupled with "Mr. Cooky" (Phillips 6003 158), neither track being included on any of the albums.

PsychodelicShark : Archetypal US 60’s punk from one of the best bands of the mid sixties, San Jose’s Count Five, who allegedly turn down a major record deal and certain fame and riches to stay at school!!!...........duh. That aside, this is an absolute classic garage track that spawned many imitations (though none that bettered this). Garage roots at its best?p.s. check out the Cramps live version of this..........

Presumably, this was (and is) the most famous German session group! The musicians appearing at the Cosmic Jokers sessions were basically the same as on the preceding Kosmische Kuriere jam projects of 1972 (these were Ash Ra Tempel: Seven Up, Sergius Golowin: Lord Krishna von Goloka and Walter Wegmuller.

From February to May 1973, Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser organised psychedelic jam sessions (sometimes more reminiscent of acid tests!) at Studio Dierks. Cosmic Jokers typified how Kaiser wanted to communicate with the world to spread his evolving cosmic philosophy. The best moments from these four months in the studio were released as three albums in 1974, all supervised by Kaiser and Gille Lettmann without asking the participating musicians! The first of these, Cosmic Jokers, was a nice album, quite similar to early Ash Ra Tempel. "Galactic Joke" was a nice workout for Manuel's talented guitar improvisations. "Cosmic Joy" was a weird, spacious float-out dominated by Schulze's explorative electronics, verging on minimalistic surrealism. Galactic Supermarket had more conventional music on its long tracks "Kinder Des Alles" and "Galactic Supermarket", as Wallenstein member Jurgen Dollase was more in the limelight here. Still it was a great album with a cosmic-symphonic flavour to it overall. There were also some overdubbed vocals by Rosi Muller and Gille Lettmann. Planeten Sit-in had continuously running (cross-faded) shorter tracks, edited down from longer sessions - a kind of potpourri of alternating cosmic improvisations, covering well-known A.R.T., Schulze and Wallenstein styles. In my view this album doesn't turn out so well as the two preceding ones, hut it's still indispensable for all cosmic freaks.

The 2nd Cluster album for Brain didn't come out until 1978, as a reunion of sorts for Roedelius & Moebius after a few years of working with M. Rother as Harmonia. The synthetics are less primitive and more serenely crafted, but this is still a fine insight into the later pulse-ticking mechanics of the scene.

Cosmic Dreams:
One of the best known German bands internationally was (and still is) Eloy, playing a self developed, pompous form of space rock. However, Eloy played strongly Anglo-influenced heavy progressive rock at the beginning of their career. Frank Bornemann (guitar, vocals) formed the band in February 1969, taking the name from the futuristic people appearing in the H. G. Wells' story "The Time Machine". In 1970 Eloy won a talent contest in their hometown Hannover. As a result, the band got their first opportunity to record in a studio, resulting in the privately-issued single "Walk Alone" coupled with "Daybreak". They also did countless live appearances, among them opening for Deep Purple and Uriah Heep during their respective German tours.
A recording contract with Phillips was secured and the band set off to Star Studios, Hamburg, to record their first album in April 1971. Also present was Konrad Plank, as well as the mysterious producer Mr. Peter M. Freiherr von Lopel. Erich Schriever had the idea for the novelty fold-out dustbin sleeve. Apparently this is exactly where Bornemann has wanted to put the album ever since. It was one of the few Eloy albums he didn't have full control over. Schriever and Wieczorke dominated the writing. Musically this was heavy progressive rock for sure, but it lacked a distinctive sound and haunting melodies. After a period of much arguing Bornemann took full control over the band, and fired Draht and Schriever. Phillips, in turn, dropped Eloy. Fritz Randow became their new drummer, Bornemann became lead vocalist and Wieczorke switched from guitar to organ. This line-up re-launched Eloy live May in 1972 at Germesheim. For their new recording company (EMI Electrola Harvest) they recorded Inside during the next Winter and released it in February 1973. Surprisingly enough, this sounded like a combination of Pink Floyd at the time of Meddle and Ian Anderson with a German accent. "Land Of No Body" was a great 17 minute opus of space rock. "Inside" and "Up And Down" were also good, but the outstanding track was "Future City", a catchy tune with great guitar riffing and a strong rhythm backing. This was Floy's most "progressive" album, and also one of their best.

ProgArchives:ELECTRIC ORANGE is a german Neo Krautrock band which is mainly based on two masterminds: Dirk Jan Müller (keys) and Dirk Bittner (guitar). Up to now both musicians had uncounted collaborations during their musical development and produced a huge amount of material on MC, Vinyl and CD. Besides some temporary flirts with House/Techno elements the band actually makes trippy Krautrock influenced music, cheerful electronic like TANGERINE DREAM or POPOL VUH and with obsessional rhythms near to CAN or even KRAFTWERK.ELECTRIC ORANGE's 2007 release "Morbus", mastered by Eroc (Grobschnitt), seems to be their masterpiece for the moment. This album shines with much variety, providing psychedelic organ/synth layers supported by a powerful rhythm section. Mysterious german recitatives are combined with hypnotic grooves and 'inventions for guitar' similar to MANUEL GÖTTSCHING. Rivertree (Uwe Zickel)

This short-lived but successful band certainly deserve a mention. They were formed in 1967 by Mike Bloomfield after he'd left The Butterfield Blues Band and were full of talent, particularly black soul drummer Buddy Miles, who'd done session work with Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett, Chicago singer-composer Nick Gravenites and keyboardist Goldberg, who'd previously played with Steve Miller. They played a combination of soul and Chicago blues which was flavoured with a taint of psychedelia and liberal use of flashy electronics, which were ideally suited to the times. They were also one of the first bands to use a brass section. Their first break was an extremely well received performance at the Monterey Festival in 1967. To some degree their appearance in the Peter Fonda/Roger Corman movie 'The Trip' consolidated their growing reputation. Collectors of psychedelia may be interested in this largely instrumental album, which included tracks like Joint Passing and Psych Soap, which were evocative of the growing psychedelic culture. The Peter's Trip 45 was also taken from the album.

Their first album proper, A Long Time Comin', was basically blues-rock with an occasional hint of psychedelia. It got to No. 31 in the U.S. album charts and was certainly stronger than their next effort, The Electric Flag, which despite climbing to no. 76, failed to mask the internal turmoil that hard drug abuse and internal stresses had created and which led to their disintegration in 1969. They did reunite in a studio project with Mama Cass shortly after, which was completed then shelved.

Garden of Delights:Founder and leader of Drum Circus from Switzerland has been the master drummer Peter Giger. "A giant on drums", as the newspaper "Rhein-Main-Zeitung" called him. He was joined, among others, by two additional drummers, as well as by Joel Vandroogenbroeck and Carole Muriel, both from Brainticket. Therefore, it's not surprising that "Magic theatre", with its LSD-dripping lyrics (partly written by Timothy Leary, partly influenced by "The Tibetan book of the dead"), reminds sometimes forcefully of the early Brainticket. "Magic theatre" was recorded in the excellent studio of Horst Jankowski in Stuttgart. Yet, it remained unreleased, then. Shortly before his death, Horst Jankowski gave the tapes to Peter Giger. The front cover shows Peter Giger on drums and Joel Vandroogenbroeck

Wiki:
The Civil Surface is Egg’s third and final album. It was released in 1974. The band had broken up in 1972, not before performing some new material during their last concerts. The new songs were very well received by the audience, so the trio decided to re-unite to record these songs. The album features guest musicians such as Steve Hillage and Lindsay Cooper. Critics have often complained that the album is poorly mixed, with the drums being far too loud. A recent reissue by Eclectic Recordings includes liner notes by Dave Stewart, in which he suggests that these problems were partly due to Clive Brooks insisting that his drumworked needed to be mixed louder.

Cosmic Dreams:This was a great "heavy progressive" quartet from Saarbrucken (near the French border). Their first and only album (entitled First) was recorded in just two days (during June 1971) in the Star Studio, Hamburg and produced by the then Pilz' label manager Jurgen Schmeisser. Konrad Plank was (as ever) engineering. Musically they were inspired by several British heavy rockers. The harmonica gave many tracks a bluesy feeling, comparable to the first Black Sabbath album. This group proved to be an inspirational source for the lyrics as well, dealing with drugs and the occult. Included were titles like "Lucifer", "Harmaggedon Dragonlove", "Witches' Meeting", "Red Lebanese" and "Trip". The last mentioned track was the highlight of the album: an eight minute long spacy instrumental crescendo building up to a frenzy, almost like the early Ash Ra Tempel. However, Dies Irae's finest moment was not to be found on their album. A staggering version of "Silent Night" with air defence sirens and bombing noises was Dies toe's fantastic contribution to the Heavy Christmas album! When Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser later took over the responsibility for Pilz, he changed the label's musical focus more towards folk-rock, releasing classic albums by Hoelderlin, Emtidi, Broselmaschine and Popol Vuh. Dies Irae were indeed hardly folk-rockers, rather folks playing hard rock' They were consequently dropped by the label. Their album is indispensable for heavy progressive collectors, even if not in the same class as Armageddon! It's not very rare, but much in demand.

Fuzz Acid & Flowers:
The first solo album by the Grateful Dead drummer may also interest Bay Area fans. Backed by John Cipollina and David Freiberg (Quicksilver), Grace Slick and Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane), Terry Haggerty and Bill Champlin (Sons Of Champlin), Stephen Stills, Sam Andrew (Big Brother), Barry Melton (Country Joe), the Tower Of Power Horn section, Zakir Husin (Shanti) and Alla Rakha, and, of course, Jerry Garcia, Bill Weir and Phil Lesh from the 'Dead, Mickey Hart offers a mix of Indian invocations, rain sequences, Dead-like songs and loose improvisations with oustanding guitars and drums. The result has its moments (Deep, Wide, Frequent, Pump Song, Gran'ma's Cookies...).Robert Hunter, Peter Monk and Bob Weir helped Hart helped write some of the material and this album is housed in a splendid Mouse and Kelley sleeve.
Still with the Dead, Mickey Hart went on to release several albums of percussions and worked on soundtracks including work for 'Apocalypse Now'. ~ (Stephane Rebeschini)

Cosmic Dreams:
In May 1973 Cluster met Michael Rother (from Neu) and together they evolved into the trio Harmonia. Between June and November 1973 they recorded Musik von Harmonia. It seems likely that Rother taught Cluster a lesson or two about using monotonous, repetitive rhythm loops, like the first Neu album. The tracks "Watussi" and "Sonnenschein" were most characteristic in this sense. However, Harmonia were quite different from Neu, as they used electronic percussion and rich keyboard textures of synthesizers and piano. "Dine" and "Veterano" were more up-beat examples of electronic rock (almost predating the Ashra sound), where Rother picked up his guitar. Other parts of this very versatile album were more ethereal and cosmic ("Sehr Kosmisch") or experimental ("Ohrwurm").

ProgArchives:
The history of GROUP 1850 (aka GROEP 1850) starts from year 1964 from the band called THE KLITS. There were several changes in the line-up's during the the decade their career lasted, only Peter Sjardin remained as the permanent member of the band. Their first public performance with the name GROUP 1850 was in the Scheveiningen Casion in March 1966. Their gigs gave them attention in the underground scene, and some single releases and radio airplay in Holland followed. In September 1967 they warmed up MOTHERS OF INVENTION at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and their first longplayer "Agemo's Trip to Mother Earth" (1968) has been stated as the first Dutch concept LP.Acid rock elements are clearly present in their first albums from the end of 1960's, and PINK FLOYD's "Saucerful of Secrets" album has surely been an innovator for them, like to so many other spaced out groups. Their music isn't an exact copy of their innovator's sound though, as there is a wide spectrum of different styles merged to the band's music in custom of psychedelia's artistic freedom. The overall feeling of the band's early music is nonrelaxed but not very aggressive, probably pleasing the fans of music describings a cosmic journey within one's mind.
The career of the band continued with both inactive and active periods and with continuous changes in the personnel. Musically maybe the most important event was release of the album "Polyandri" in year 1974. Their mostly instrumental music grew to a larger scope containing strong musical elements.
In the same year the keymembers of the GROUP 1850 performed with the name ORANGE UPSTAIRS (Oranje Boven). The released one album with this name and then changed back to GROUP 1850. The band broke up in 1975, and the members went to join other bands. The original vinyls of the group's releases have reached high prices in the collector's markets.

The impressive Downwind is the first release from the band under its new moniker, Pierre Moerlen's Gong, as Moerlen assumes creative control and dominance. The release marks a return to vocals/lyrics, which proves only partially successful. Moerlen's voice is a hit on the opener, the rocking "Aeroplane," and the collective vocals on the fast-paced, percussive "Jin-Go-Lo-Ba" (popularized by Santana) are right on target. His singing is weak, though, on "What You Know" and detracts from the song's quality. Mick Taylor makes his only appearance here with an exceptional guitar solo. Downwind is also a return to compositions dominated by rock structures and styles, the jazz element minimal this time around. The instrumental cuts are sublime: "Emotions" and "Xtasea" are relaxing; "Crosscurrents" and "Downwind" are energetic and exciting. The title cut is easily the highlight of the album, featuring guest appearances by Steve Winwood (moog, synth) and guitarist Mike Oldfield. At almost 13 minutes, this thrilling composition resembles the early work of Oldfield, particularly strains of "Tubular Bells, Pt. 1," and specifically the section used for the film The Exorcist. On "Downwind," Moerlen's percussives are ablaze, recalling his "Percolations" performance from Gazeuse. Bassist Hansford Rowe is prominent, and saxophonist Didier Malherbe, a longtime Gong staple, makes his only appearance on the album. — David Ross Smith (All Music Guide)

Spalax :
Third installment of the Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy, and the final proper Gong album to feature Daevid Allen (the band would continue on, in a markedly different direction led by Pierre Moerlen). This album has less outright Allen weirdness, but plenty of heavyish space-jamming via Blake & Hillage and a good celestial psych feel for the period (1974).
From ProgressiveRock : Allen playfully introduces the stage for the third and final of Gong's Radio Gnome Trilogy. For the most part though, the Gong band forgo song format of the previous Angel's Egg for the loose jamming built over the rock solid grooves of their ace rhythm team of Howlett and Moerlen. It's no surprise that this is Gong's strongest release yet, its focus is on exactly what they do best. The mantra of "Master Builder" ignites with Hillages' formidable lead. "A Sprinkling of Clouds" creeps out of Blake's pulsing synthesizers, building again into an instrumental tour-de-force. The second side starts again playfully, but descends into the mega-riff of "Isle Of Everywhere", probably the penultimate example of what Gong did best. Both Malherbe and Hillage have plenty of room to solo over the head-nod groove. From there Allen winds up the cosmic adventure fittingly with "You Never Blow Yr Trip Forever." Gong's Radio Gnome trilogy remains some of the most original and lasting records of the progressive era. Allen's command would end following a bad trip before a gig in England and with it an entire era. With Smyth and family, he would retire to Majorca for an altogether different musical path. Hillage would embark on a highly successful solo career, while Howlett would form the embryonic Police, but not before guiding the interim Shamal album, also released by Virgin. From there a Moerlen-led Gong would carry on producing euro-fusion. In 1977, Virgin released a double album Live Etc documenting the Trilogy era Gong
from RsychedekicShark : From this album [You] with the Daevid Allen lineup that features one of the best drummers I have ever seen, Pierre Moerlen, to the Gong lineup without Daevid Allen which is lead by drummer Pierre Moerlen, some of the best psych-prog-rock is heard. These guys did & do not get credit they deserve as being innovative. Just give'em a listen. Try cd's "You", "Shammal", "Live" & for more of a fusion-prog soundlisten to "Expresso-[Gazusse], "Expresso II".
A lot of the Pierre Moerlen Gong features some great guitar by Allan Holdsworth & the bass of Hansford Rowe.
Give it a try. The Daevid Allen lineup still tours & will probably be in US in fall.

Tapestry of Delights:
Despite being based in France and forming there Gong have sufficient British connections to justify their inclusion in this section of the archive. Their founding member was Daevid Allen, an Australian poet/composer/guitarist who'd first come to Britain in 1961. He'd formed the Daevid Allen Trio, a sort of free-form jazz group with Robert Wyatt and Hugh Hopper, which developed into The Soft Machine. After going on a European tour with them during 1967 he was refused re-entry to the UK because his visa had expired. He was briefly imprisoned and then returned to France spending time in Deya, one of the Majorcan islands, before settling in Paris. He put together various embryonic line-ups of what became known as Gong during 1968 and eventually recorded Magick Brother, Mystic Sister with line-up (A) for the French Byg label between September and October 1969. It was released in France only in 1970, but not released in the UK until Charly put it out in an entirely different sleeve in 1977. Indeed Gong were virtually unheard of here in the UK until Virgin signed them in 1973, except for a notable appearance at the 1971 Glastonbury Festival, which was subsequently documented on one side of the extremely rare Glastonbury Fayre triple album.
In 1971 Gong recorded music for the Soundtrack to an obscure Jerome Lapperrousaz motorbike movie called 'Continental Circus'. They contributed four tracks:- Blues For Findlay, Continental Circus World, What Do You Want and an instrumental version of Blues For Findlay. This Soundtrack album was released in the UK on Philips. The same year Daevid Allen also cut a solo album Banana Moon with assistance from Pip Pyle, Christian Tritsch and Robert Wyatt.

Cosmic Dreams:
'Unnachgiebiges aggressiv bekampfen, ist kampf gegen sich selbst' is a phrase owners of the first Gila album will remember well! The group was formed in Stuttgart in 1969, and was busy working with different media using film, slide show, poems and music. Their highly ambitious first album appeared August 1971, recorded by Dieter Dierks during a week's intensive work that Summer. The concept of the album was to reflect the group's (self-declared) progression from aggression to communication during their two-year lifetime. The continuous music was mainly instrumental, dominated by the leader Conny Veit's excellent and imaginative guitar play. They created a Floyd-like space rock bursting into heavy climaxes. In addition the album had a most beautiful psychedelic painting on its fold-out cover. This is one of the best German albums of all time! Some months later, the group regrettably disbanded and Veit became a member of Popol Vuh. A new aspect of his guitar abilities was heard on Hosianna Mantra, adopting an almost meditative style. Popol Vuh was (almost) exclusively a studio project, so Conny Veit felt the desire for a live outfit. For this reason Conny Veit put new life into Gila. The Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee album (recorded at Dierks Studio, Stommeln 1973) was almost a Popol Vuh album, except that Conny Veit's compositions replaced Florian Fricke's. This was a concept album, dealing with one of the last and worst massacres of native Americans. The acid touches of the first album were now replaced by a pleasant folky and more acoustic mood, characterised by 12 string guitars, grand piano and Fichelscher's special drum style. "This Morning" and "In A Sacred Manner" were songs of celestial beauty with dreamy vocal harmonies and lush arrangements. The album's conclusion "The Buffalo Are Coming" was a more dramatic piece with its thundering percussion. This is another essential album! When Gila's activities came to a halt in 1974, Conny Veit joined Guru Guru for a short while.

Unknown:
The album presented here is his fourth, and last, recorded for CBS International. Unlike the first two, ("Strange Is This World" and "Ode To Venus", presented here recently), which were recorded with his group NIEMEN, or his third ("Russiche Lieder", which will come later in this cycle), which was recorded by himself alone, this album was recorded with an impressive assembly of international musicians. The names include Jan Hammer and Rick Laird of the Machavishnu Orchestra fame as well as internationally known jazz musicians Michal Urbaniak and John Abercrombie.
However, just like all other Niemen's "foreign" albums, this one was no exception to the Polish authorities ruling at that time. It was not publish in Poland and remained virtually unknown in the artist's own country....
This album was recorded in 1974, when his group NIEMEN was already a history (and the group SBB already started making some waves), but before the new group NIEMEN AEROLIT was formed. It was released in UK in 1975, shortly before the death of his friend Piotr Dziemski and the resulting recording of his Polish album "Katharsis".
The title track "Mourner's Rhapsody" is an excellent reworking of his great song "Bema Pamieci Zalobny - Rapsod", first recorded on his Polish album "Enigmatic" in 1969.

unknown:
In 1973 Helmut Nadolski, one of the best ever double bass virtuoso, left the group. The three remaining members of the group NIEMEN (beside the leader, Czeslaw Niemen himself) were also eager to go their own way. However, before they did, and before they became known to the world as SBB in 1974, in 1973 they recorded one more album as group NIEMEN.
"Ode To Venus" is another "foreign" album, another gem of Polish music hidden to Polish listeners for many years.
As I mentioned before, in 1974 the group SBB would begin their long and exciting career. Today most of the "progheads" know about SBB. Many even know that they were somehow involved with Niemen. However, not everyone has the facts straight. I have even seen some comments like "Niemen was at one time an organ player with SBB" :-( . Imagine that :D.
Hope you enjoy this album. In my opinion it's another example of the prog-rock at its best.

Wiki:Vivacitas (subtitled "Live at Glasgow 2002") is a live album recorded by Keith Emerson and The Nice, who reformed for a set of concerts. David O'List, the original guitarist, did not take part, and he was replaced by Dave Kilminster. The album mostly consists of versions of pieces which had been live favourites during The Nice's heyday between 1967 and 1970, some pieces performed by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and a 2001 interview with Keith Emerson by Chris Welch.

Fuzz Acid & Flowes:
An amazing late sixties rock band from Sacramento, California. The core band originally formed in 1964 as The Jaguars and played concerts using this moniker but did not record. During 1965, the line-up fixed and they made their first recordings as Moss and The Rocks. One of the two 45s by this band was made at Ikon Studios in Sacramento, which at the time was home to engineer Eirik Wangberg. Readers of this book will recognise at least two of the projects that Wangberg handled at Ikon, the 45 by The Oxford Circle and the album by Glad. The relationship between Moss and The Rocks and Wangberg continued for over three years, during which time Wangberg relocated to Southern California and helped the group record two remarkable albums of British-influenced rock that have to be ranked amongst the finest ever produced in the State. Their release is the basis for the band's inclusion here.
During 1966, Moss and The Rockers adopted what are now considered quintessential "punk" pretensions; the more aggressive music and the unorthodox fashion sense. As they moved their local campaign into high gear, they changed name to the more appropriate Public Nuisance, which surely must have cost them some concert opportunities in the relatively staid community of Sacramento! The band spent a great deal of time and energy on visual propaganda during this period, staging photo sets and producing rather provocative handbills and holiday greeting cards for fans on their mailing list. In time, the band was invited to record a demo for Fantasy Records. Sessions took place at Fantasy's studiod in San Francisco during 1967 that resulted in a finished master. Sadly, a recent search of the company's archives proved fruitless, and the demo appears to be lost. It was eventually apparent to the group that the label wasn't interested in pursuing a contractual agreement, however.

GibraltarEPr :Moving Gelatine Plates is another obscure French progressive band from the early 70s given new life on CD by Musea. MGP consisted of Didier Thibault on bass and vocals (later with Gong), Gerard Bertram on guitar, Gerard Pons on drums, and Maurice Helmlinger on keyboards, sax, flute, and trumpet. This CD reissue includes their entire debut album (5 songs), original cover artwork, extensive band history, lyrics (such as they are), and 4 bonus tracks from MGP's 1980 album Moving. The cover art, a hand holding an exploding plate of gelatin, suggests today's industrial bands rather than 1970s progressive music. The opening track "London Cab" has a great "industrial" intro. MGP is a refreshing glimpse into the past. These four guys really cook! Their music mixed a dash of Soft Machine, King Crimson (Lizard), and Pink Floyd (Atom Heart Mother) with a dab of Iron Butterfly ("In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" drums). Fast breaks, complex rhythms, virtuoso playing, and weird lyrics combined to produce innovative music ahead of its time. The lyrics are one of the many surprises in store for you. Suddenly, in the middle of an energetic jam, you hear a processed voice reciting Three Blind Mice! Disconcerting, and in the immortal words of Mr. Spock, "Fascinating!." Don't pass on the opportunity to buy this CD.

Cosmic Dreams:
Hans-Joachim Roedelius must be considered as the grand old man of German rock. He was born on 20 October 1934, grew up in East Berlin and had reached the age of 34 when he started to play the piano and guitar (self taught) in 1969. His youth was very colourful, working in more than a dozen different places in just a couple of years. He was also a member of the DDR Nationalen Volksarmee, but deserted and had to spend two years in a prison camp. The legend says that Dieter Moebius (born on 16 January 1944) came across Roedelius when he was a barkeeper in a pub! Moebius had previously studied graphics in Berlin. In November 1969 they formed the trio Kluster with Conrad Schnitzler, who was simultaneously a member of Tangerine Dream (please see their entry for details of Schnitzler's past).

When Vanilla Fudge split, Appice and Bogert formed Cactus with Jim McCarty, the former Mitch Ryder guitarist, and Rusty Day, a singer and harmonica player. Their albums were well received by hard rock fans and may interest some readers in search of loud and heavy rock. For the third album, a keyboard player was added to the line-up and in 1972 McCarty and Day left. They were replaced by Werner Fritzschings and Peter French for the final album, recorded partly live at the Mar Y Sol Festival in Purto Rico. Their records were produced by Geoffrey Haslam, who also worked with the J.Geils Band.Appice and Bogert then joined Jeff Beck and the group disbanded. Hitchings formed the imaginarily named New Cactus Band with two ex Blues Image members, Mike Pinera and Manuel Bertematti, and recorded Son Of Cactus (Atlantic ) 1973. After it flopped, Hitchings and Pinera formed Thee Image and released two better avoided albums for Manticore in 1975.

Cosmic Dreams:
This was the project of Peter Bursch, a master of acoustic guitar. Besides the Broselmaschine albums, he has issued several hand books on how to play acoustic guitar. He formed the first Broselmaschine line-up way back in 1968, inspired by the American folk music of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs and Joni Mitchell. Some of these people brought with them experiences from Irish and British folklore. During the early seventies the band lived as a commune in Duisburg. Their first album was recorded in August 1971 and released on Pilz. It included six tracks in all, most outstanding was their Steeleye Span-ish version of the Scottish traditional song "Lassie", which came with perfect multi-voice harmonies electric guitar and mandolin. Other tracks like "Schmetterling" had a more eastern flavour with sitar. It is one of the best German folk rock albums ever recorded!
Regretfully Broselmaschine disbanded about a year after this release. Some of the members travelled to India. In 1975 Peter Bursch formed a new Broselmaschine, now dubbing themselves 'Peter Bursch & Die Broselmaschine' They were helped by Mani Neumeier and Roland Schaeffer from Guru Guru and Jan Fride from Kraan on a new LP project. In spite of these guest appearances, the resulting album was still in a clearly defined folk style, although quite different from the 1972 album.

Cosmic Dreams:Mr. Rainer Degner, previously the guitarist of the sixties beat group German Bonds, had a passion for the old German children's song "Meister Jakob". In fact, this is also the real name of this studio project (with session musicians), but due to the arrival of psychedelia, strange things were happening, and the letters 'bokaj retsiem' must be reversed to make any sense! Degner's album included some absolutely perverse arrangements of "Meister Jakob", but also some great acid guitar parts in the typical late sixties style. One of the few German psychedelic albums in existence, and for this reason a quite interesting and uncommon item! Members of The Rattles also contributed to this album. It is also worth mentioning that his old fellows in German Bonds, Peter Hecht and Dieter Horns, also made several strange albums under pseudonym beside their normal career in Lucifer's Friend.

A New York City band who issued just the one album, which is now a rare collectors' item. Prior to this they'd recorded the above 45 on United Artists. Their album contains some fine and often demented acid rock, particularly on All Kinds Of Highs and the superb Paradox City. There's also an interesting psychedelic version of Satisfaction, although the slowed-down cover of The House of The Rising Sun is a little tedious. If you're into psychedelic guitar work you should enjoy this album - it's full of great guitar work and good songs.

Nick Manzi, had earlier played with Faine Jade in a band called The Rustics and Bohemian Vendetta later backed him on the classic Introspection album.

Fans of the band will also want to check out Distortions collection of rarities, acetates and non-LP cuts, entitled Enough!. Released on both vinyl and CD, the CD contains extra material.

Nick Manzi later played with Dust Bowl Clementine, who had an eponymous album on Roulette (2SR-42058) 1970.

ItalianProg:
Formed in Naples in late 60's, with the initial name of Battitori Selvaggi, playing in Nato bases in Italy.
They changed name to Il Balletto di Bronzo with the first line-up, with two good singles in 1969 and 1970 and even recording some tracks in spanish (released in 1988 as a single and in 1990 on the Il re del castello LP) and their first album, Sirio 2222. The album is now considered as one of the rarest of the italian prog era, and is halfway between late 60's psych-influenced pop and prog.
The long suite Missione Sirio 2222 is one of the best tracks, while most of the others are in the 3-minute typical length of the time. Some collectors consider it as one of the best in the italian prog field, others think it's still not a mature group's work. Without doubt a very important one.
In 1971 Gianni Leone (from the very first Città Frontale) enters the group along with bassist Manzari (from the Rome band Quelle Strane Cose Che) and a new Balletto is born, much more in a symphonic vein and dominated by his keyboards. Second album released in 1972 on Polydor, Ys (from the name of a legendary town in Brittany), is a masterpiece, giving the group the success they deserved. Inexplicably an english-sung version, ready to release, was never issued.
Group disbanded in 1973 after a final single, Gianni Leone having a short solo career under the name of Leo Nero, the others went to live in Sweden and disappeared from the italian music scene.
Gianni Leone has reformed the band in late 90's with bassist Romolo Amici and drummer Ugo Vantini from the neo-prog group Divae on whose 1995 CD Gianni had played; they made a series of concerts from which the live CD Trys has been recorded.

1. That`s How Much I Need You (Wyatt)2. Save Yourself (Wyatt)3. I should`ve Known (Hugh Hopper)4. Jet Propelled Photographs (Ayers)5. When I Don`t Want You (Hugh Hopper)6. Memories (Hugh Hopper)7. You Don`t Remember (Wyatt/Allen)8. She`s Gone (Ayers)9. I`d rather Be With You (Ayers)

Cosmic Dreams:Siloah came from Munich and were the brainchild of one Thom Atgauer. They made two extremely rare private pressings, regarded as among the most frenzied on the German underground scene. Some dealers have described their first album Saureadler (1970, the title means 'acid eagle') as 'being even wilder than Kalacakra', and it isn't difficult to agree with this after listening to the six tracks. This is an acoustic ethno-psychedelic head trip. Guests play drums, flute and guitar on certain tracks. Apart from the short introduction and ending, the album had "Aluminium Wind" (18:00). There are some rumours that members of Amon Duul were involved in these recordings. Their second album Sukramgurk Playin� (1972) was definitely an underground classic - a mostly instrumental album with lots of primitive, psychedelic organ sounds. "Milk Blue Mind" (16:15) covers side one with stunning jamming. This really sounds like a late sixties organ combo freaking out on solid doses of acid! Siloah must have been inspired by some rambling American sixties punk rockers. The sound balance is a bit strange, the lyrics are almost inaudible. Side two starts off with "Magic Carpet Ride To The Alps" (2:38), a short number in the same vein and continues with "Feast Of The Pickpockets" (8:39), slow meditative organ chords gradually incorporating bass and drums, and "Stony" (4:26), which bears up its name. "A Landlady's Dessert" (0:46) is the short conclusion of the album. Siloah on this record were: If you want to check out Siloah, save up 500 DEM to purchase each record.

Having already scored three major U.K. smashes, the Shadows confirmed their independence from singer Cliff Richard with an eponymous album which rates among the most accomplished British LPs of the pre-Beatles era, and one of the most influential rock instrumental sets ever. An entire generation of would-be guitar heroes learned their licks from Hank Marvin and the Shadows, an accolade which a star-studded, mid-1990s tribute album certainly affirms. But the bespectacled guitarist was not the band's sole star. Drummer Tony Meehan's "See You in My Drums," like bassist Jet Black's "Jet Black" single of two years previous, is a gripping showcase for his own remarkable talents, while "Baby My Heart" unveils vocal talents which, again, the group's earliest singles alone had illustrated. Modern listeners, schooled in the axeman excesses of more recent years, will doubtlessly find The Shadows impossibly well-mannered and implausibly sedentary. Low-key instrumentals like "Blue Star," "Sleepwalk," and "Nivram" (the inspiration behind Peter Frampton's "Theme From Nivram") scarcely begin to speak of the frenetic abuses which the likes of Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton would one day wring from their instruments. What they did do, however, was illustrate the untapped possibilities of the guitar, a lesson which Marvin might have taken his time in teaching, but which was vivid all the same. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide

Formed in 1971 by Ney Matogrosso (vocalist), Gerson Conrad (vocalist/composer/violão) and João Ricardo (singer/composer/violão/harmonica), Secos & Molhados is inscribed in a privileged category of few bands and musicians who led Brazil from bossa nova through Tropicália then to Brazilian rock, a style which only blossomed in the '80s. Much of the group's importance, apart from the huge success of its first album, which sold 700,000 copies in 1973, was the heavy use of stage makeup and dramatic elements. These served as reference for a generation of underground bands which wouldn't accept MPB as their expression, finally drawing a definite outlook in Brazilian music in the '80s through collective contribution.João Ricardo, a journalist from the newspaper Última Hora (São Paulo), leader and founder of Secos & Molhados, is a Portuguese from Ponte do Lima (1949). His father, the poet/critic João Apolinário, was a major influence in his literary life, and would even contribute lyrics to two songs in the opening album, and one for the second. The project Secos & Molhados ("dry and wet goods," a typical upcountry warehouse) was devised by Ricardo, who found in the two partners the perfect vehicles for his definite concepts. Ney, who would explode on the stage with his magnetic presence, his counter-tenor voice and extravagant androgynous outfit, remaining as the only successful artist of the trio after the end of the group, was introduced by singer/composer Luli, a common friend; Gerson was already a neighbor and friend of Ricardo's. In December, 1972, the group did a successful series of shows in the nightclub Casa de Badalação e Tédio (São Paulo). With the scenic/vocal talents of Ney's, the spectacle was highly visual, dynamic and energetic, exploring in a sexually ambiguous way the new sounds of the band. Texts of important poets like Cassiano Ricardo, Manuel Bandeira, Solano Trindade, and Vinícius de Moraes were used as song lyrics, which was unusual. In 1973, the success in live presentations yielded an invitation from Continental, and Secos & Molhados was recorded. The album sold 700,000 copies, a nationwide hit. Among the packed shows which followed, especially deserving of mention is the one performed in the Maracanãzinho stadium, for 25,000 people (which was recorded and released in 1980), and in the Presidente Médici Gymnasium, in Brasília. The following year, the group was featured on Mexican TV, and recorded the second LP, Secos & Molhados, which also sold very well. Secos & Molhados could have anticipated Brazilian rock, but were dissolved before that could happen, in 1974. Disagreements about finances arose between Gerson and Ney, and between father and son, who were directly responsible for the disbanding. João Ricardo released an album in 1975, João Ricardo (Philips), and tried to resurrect the band for four times, always with a different formation with no original members. Gerson continued to perform and record, with not much expression. Ney departed for a highly successful career, where by and by he evidenced a true reverence for MPB. ~ Alvaro Neder, All Music Guide

Cosmic Dreams:
A heavy blues-progressive power trio. They recorded (in Windrose Studios, Hamburg) one interesting, self-titled album for Metronome in 1971. Best cut was the 20 minute long suite "Second Life". It started as a folky, acoustic song, building into a heavy guitar solo section similar to Jimi Hendrix or Ten Years After followed by a long drum solo. Side two had four fine hard rock songs. Second Life's album is now very rare, fetching prices in excess of 150 DEM. After more than twenty years, the cover lamination is peeling off on every copy I have ever seen, so don't expect to find a mint cover even if you're lucky enough to trace the record! In 1972 the group changed their name to Tiger B. Smith and recorded two inferior albums for Vertigo and Bacillus.

AlexGitlin:
Hard rock group from Dordrecht, formed in 1970. Members: Angelo Santoro (b), Ad Vos (dr), Frans Poots (v), Bas van der Pol (v,g, ex-Hawks) and Jan Reynders (v,g, ex-Hawks). De Hawks were a trio with John Santoro from The Zipps. In 1972, the group disbanded and was reformed in 1973 for another stint. Frans en Bas were then replaced by Ed van der Bend (g, ex-Justice) and Kees de Blois (v, ex-Jumbo, to Circus). Jan, Kees and Bas formed The Hudsons in 1979; Bas had been a member of Jupiter (see The Motions family tree), in the meantime (1972).

Beefheart (real name Don Van Vliet) was born in Glendale, California in 1941. One wonders what the Lancaster High School, which included Frank Zappa and Van Vliet could have been like. After playing briefly with a band called The Blackouts, the 'mad captain' took the name Captain Beefheart and formed The Magic Band in 1964, which was based in Los Angeles. His first single for A&M was a version of Bo Diddley's Diddy Wah Diddy.

His debut album, which was rejected by A&M and eventually released by Buddah in the U.S. and Polydor in England, sounded like nothing that had been heard before. Beefheart's growling and grunted vocals were most unusual, his vocal range most impressive, but some of the lyrics almost inaudible. Nonetheless, the material was of a consistent standard, with Autumn Song, Zig Zag Wanderer, Electricity and Yellow Brick Road among the stronger numbers.

Paul Butterfield was born on 17th December 1942 in Chicago where he later formed his racially integrated R&B band in 1964. The original line-up included Jerome Arnold and Sam Lay who had previously comprised the rhythm section of a band fronted by Howlin' Wolf, but shortly afterwards Butterfield's former University of Chicago classmate Elvin Bishop joined and they signed to Elektra. Mike Bloomfield was brought in on slide guitar and Mark Naftalin joined on keyboards during the recording of their first album. One of their early live gigs was at the July 1965 Newport Folk Festival but it did not go down well with the folk purists among the audience. However, they impressed Bob Dylan who invited them to back him later that day in what was his very first non-acoustic set.

The band travelled to New York in January 1966 to record their self-titled debut album which comprised a hard-hitting battery of electric blues numbers. It made No. 123 in the Billboard album charts. In June the same year they contributed five tracks to What's Shakin', an Elektra various artists LP which also featured The Lovin' Spoonful, Eric Clapton, Tom Rush and Al Kooper. East/West followed in December 1966. The title track, which was over 13 minutes long, included many Eastern instrumental influences. The album peaked at No. 65 in the Billboard charts. Mike Bloomfield departed shortly after its release to form Electric Flag.

Looking for a fresh start, Budgie signed with A&M Records in 1976 and released the strangely titled If I Were Brittania, I'd Waive the Rules. The band continued to incorporate new elements into their sound here, showing a special interest in funk on such tracks as "Anne Neggen" and "Sky High Percentage." The stark "Black Velvet Stallion" shows an interesting use of space, but descends into boredom long before its eight minutes are up. Ironically, Budgie still sound most at home when injecting an adventurous progressive rock flavor to songs like "Heaven Knows Your Name" and "You're Opening Doors," both of which also benefit from Tony Bourge's classy guitar harmonies. — Ed Rivadavia (All Music Guide)

This rare progressive rock album is now a minor collectors' item. Musically we're talking excellent atmospheric organ-led progressive rock. In particular, Blitz, a haunting, doomy track, is memorable and the band could be considered to have a sort of heavy Nice sound. All the tracks were written by T. Bronsdon, who presumably led the band and it's surprising that they weren't snapped up by a major label. Had they been they might have fared better.Although their album appeared on Windmill, a budget label sold through Woolworths, this was a gigging act, rather than a bunch of session musicians.(Vernon Joynson/John Smith)

Brainstorm originated from Baden-Baden (a spa town in South West Germany) circa 1968 as Fashion Pink, with the line-up of: Roland Schaeffer (saxophones, guitars, vocals), Eddy von Overheidt (keyboards), Joe Koinzer (drums), Jürgen Argast (bass) and Helmut Rusch (guitar). All had previously played in local beat groups, doing covers of international hits. So, it was decided that this new band would concentrate on original self-penned material. Tension and clashes in the band soon led the latter two members to depart, and in came Rainer Bodensohn (bass, flute).

In their early days they played a heavy psychedelic rock with a very British sound. The CD release FASHION PINK TO BRAINSTORM documents various early sessions on SWF Radio's rock programme. The earliest works find them in a heavy bluesy setting, reminding a little of early Steamhammer, but with that Krautrock angle that's so hard to quantify. With each track thereon you can hear the Brainstorm sound developing: the unusual time signatures, the placing of song elements across the music, allowing different facets of a composition to criss-cross imaginatively. Increasingly all this refinement gave more and more room for solos (flutes, saxophone, guitars) and the increasingly prominent distorted keyboards, ever moving the music towards the classic Canterbury sound. The tail-end of this phase finds them drawing in eccentric Mothers Of Invention elements, and defining their own style.

David Bowie was born on 8th January 1947 in Brixton, London. His real name was David Jones. He sang and occasionally played sax in a part-time group The Kon-Rads during 1962/63 but his first full-time band was Davie Jones and The King Bees, which he formed with George Underwood in 1964. When the group split up at the end of 1964 Bowie moved to The Manish Boys, although they lasted only a few months, but issued one single.

In June 1965 Bowie formed a new outfit The Lower Third. After releasing a 45 for Parlophone You've Got A Habit Of Leaving the band were spotted playing at London's Marquee by Ken Pitt who became their manager. Bowie also penned an earlier single for them, Born Of The Night, which may exist in acetate format. By now David Jones was using the name David Bowie. The first single, Can't Help Thinking About Me, was one of the best of his early days. A beautiful song with idiosyncratic lyrics it got considerable airplay on pirate station Radio London but failed to become a hit. The group split up after this and Bowie advertised in the music press to form a new outfit The Buzz (line-up: Derek Boyles (organ), John Eager (drms), Dek Fearnley (bs) and John Hutchinson (gtr), who was later replaced by Billy Gray). They weren't credited on the next soul-influenced single Do Anything You Say. The follow-up I Dig Everything was a more mod-influenced recording with some distinctive organ, recorded without assistance from The Buzz, who disbanded shortly after its release. After this Pye didn't extend his contract and he was back in the studio recording demos which included Please Mr. Gravedigger, The London Boys and Rubber Band. He took these round the record companies and won a contract with Deram in September 1966. There's also an Oak album of jingles which Ken Pitt owns.

Fuzz Acid & Flowers:Jerry Dobb and Scott Julian formed the Marc 5 in 1966 in Colonia, New Jersey. Later known as the Sonix, they decided to change musical direction in 1968 and new personnel were secured to form Six Feet Under. The first drummer didn't last long, his seat being taken by Hector Torres. By 1970, seeking a recording contract, another shake-up resulted in the exit of Torres and the acquisition of a young female vocalist to strengthen that department. The CD retrospective comprises nineteen tracks - eight studio, five home recordings plus live and radio spots. It showcases the width of the bands hippie-acid-psych repertoire, sounding like Ill Wind one minute and Iron Butterfly the next. An excellent and welcome release with a fascinating history and track-by-track breakdown from Jerry Dobbs. And as Jerry points out, ironically it was only ousted drummer Torres who found real success and fame. After returning home to Sayerville, he'd bounce back after teaming up with a promising youngster called Jon Bon Jovi...

The leaders of Gov't Mule, Warren Haynes and Allen Woody, should be well known to Allman Brothers fans for their stint in Southern rock's most famous native sons. In 1989 Haynes became the second replacement for Duane Allman, providing a good foil for Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts on guitar and vocals; Woody filled out the Allman sound on bass. Five years after their debut, the duo joined drummer Matt Abts in the side project Gov't Mule, a band in which the Allman Brothers' influence is apparent but complicated with the psychedelic, bluesy power trio feel of Cream.

Gov't Mule debuted in 1995 with a self-titled album onCapricorn Records, followed by the stellar concert date Live at Roseland Ballroom. The studio follow-up, Dose, appeared in early 1998; another concert set, Live...with a Little Help from Our Friends, followed a year later, with the complete show later appearing as a four-disc limited-edition set. A new studio effort, Life Before Insanity, appeared in early 2000. A vital member of the band was lost, however, on August 26, 2000, when Woody was found dead in a hotel room in New York City. The band had been preparing to record their next album, and after a time, Gov't Mule finally decided to carry on with the project, this time with guest bassists ranging from Flea toBootsy Collins. The two-volume Deep End series for ATO Records resulted. Phish bassist Mike Gordon also got involved in the project, filming the recording of the albums for a planned documentary. In mid-September 2001, the group hit the road for a six-week tour in support of Deep End, Vol. 1; Oteil Burbridge filled in as bassist for most of the dates.

01. You Can Tell The World 2:4902. Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream 2:1303. Bleecker Street 2:4704. Sparrow 2:5105. Benedictus 2:4206. The Sound Of Silence 3:0907. He Was My Brother 2:5308. Peggy-O 2:2909. Go Tell It On The Mountain 2:0910. The Sun Is Burning 2:5011. The Times They Are A-Changin' 2:5512. Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. 2:2413. Bleecker Street [*] 2:4614. He Was My Brother [*] [Previously Unreleased] 2:5215. The Sun Is Burning [*] [Previously Unreleased] 2:47... Read more »

ItalianProg:
Few of his fans know that Michele Zarrillo, a very popular singer in Italy during the 80's and still active, recorded his first album with his band Semiramis in 1973 when only 16-year old.
Semiramis was a teenagers five-piece from Rome mainly based on the guitar of Michele Zarrillo and twin keyboards of Giampiero Artegiani and Michele's brother Maurizio Zarrillo.
The basic nucleus had been formed around 1970 by Maurizio Zarrillo and cousins Reddavide and Pulvano, all of them being 15-year old, and their first singer was Maurizio Macos (real name Macioce). In 1972 they were joined by Michele Zarrillo, younger brother of keyboardist Maurizio, that had previously played with I Piccoli Lord and considered a gifted guitarist. The name Semiramis was chosen, from a queen of Babylon, and the group even played at Rome historical Villa Pamphili festival in 1972, but original drummer Pulvano had to leave the musical career as he was the only one with a regular job.
He was replaced by a long time friend of the group, Paolo Faenza, who took with him another keyboardist, Giampiero Artegiani, to enrich the group's sound.
Released by Trident label the album, Dedicato a Frazz, had a nice gatefold cover designed by Gordon Faggetter, an english painter based in Rome and working with RCA.
Complex rhythm changes and a good guitar/keyboards interplay are the main ingredients of this album, not perfectly produced but still regarded by many as one of the top italian prog LP's.

ItalianProg:A band from near Rome, Seconda Genesi, have become famous among prog fans for one of the rarest (and much looked after) Italian albums of the 70's, Tutto deve finire, released in 1972 in just 200 copies, all with different painted covers, that has finally achieved a vinyl reissue thirty years after its initial release.The album is very good, with nice flute, Hammond organ and guitar playing to the fore, starting with the impressive Ascoltarsi nascere with a stunning rhythm acceleration, and also reveals some jazz influences.The band's guitarist Paride De Carli had recorded an album in 1971, Naufrago in città, with his previous band called Paride e gli Stereo 4 (included in the Akarma CD reissue of Tutto deve finire), also on Picci label with mostly acoustic songs, and after the band disbanded has kept playing in various bands, while keyboardist Alberto Rocchetti has long played with Italian singer Vasco Rossi.

ItalianProg:Naufrago in città was in fact a solo album by the guitarist from Viterbo Paride De Carli before his experience with Seconda Genesi.The ultrarare album, recorded in 1971, is all instrumental and acoustic, based on classical guitar, flute, keyboards, and has been included in the recent CD reissue of the Seconda Genesi album by Akarma.The name Paride e gli Stereo 4 (sometimes Paride e gli Stereo 8) has also been used by De Carli and the musicians of Seconda Genesi when they backed other artists on record (among these Pierluigi Terri, Fathia, Fiammetta).

01. Hello To The Cities [Recorded Live On The Ed Sullivan Show 1967 & At Cobo Hall, Detroit 1970] 0:57
02. Break On Through (Through The Other Side) [Recorded Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival, England 1970] 4:44
03. Roadhouse Blues [Recorded Live At Madison Square Garden, New York 1970] 4:32
04. Hyacinth House [Demo Recorded At Robby Krieger's Home Studio 1969] 2:38
05. Who Scared You [Recorded At Elektra Studios 1969] 3:55
06. Whiskey, Mystics And Men [Recorded At Elektra Studios 1970] 2:23
07. I Will Never Be Untrue [Recorded Live At The Aquarius Theater, Hollywood 1969] 3:59
08. Moonlight Drive [Demo Recorded At World Pacific Studios 1965] 2:31
09. Queen Of The Highway [Alternative Version Recorded At Elektra Studios 1969] 3:36
10. Someday Soon [Recorded Live At The Seattle Center 1970] 3:49
11. Hello, I Love You [Demo Recorded At World Pacific Studios 1965] 2:32
12. Orange County Suite [Recorded At Elektra Studios 1970] 5:45
13. The Soft Parade [Recorded Live On PBS Television, New York 1969] 10:09
14. The End [Recorded Live At Madison Square Garden, New York 1970] 17:47
15. Woman Is A Devil [Recorded At Elektra Studios 1969] 4:08

Gepr:
The literal translation of "Deux Ex Machina" states "God in the Machine." In common usage however, the phrase represents something that has come out of nowhere and taken everybody by surprise. It is the latter interpretation that fits this band's music. Deux Ex Machina has come out of nowhere. An Italian band whose first album was released in 1991, they are just beginning to get any sort of distribution. And they are taking everyone by surprise as well. Could they be the band that we've all been waiting for? A band that takes the progressive philosophy of the 70's and the modern sound of the 90's and spits out a stream of killer releases? Having heard Deux Ex Machina for the first time not too long ago, they impressed me a lot. A *lot*. First off, they have the best vocalist to come upon the scene in a decade. Alberto Piras belts out the songs with a clear, high-pitched tone that reminds me of Queenryche's Geoff Tate (what he did in the mid-eighties at least), and Area's Demitrios Stratos. Piras even uses some of the weird screaming/moaning/rolling vocal gymnastics that made Stratos unique. Guitarist Mauro Collina pulls off both blistering solos and smooth acoustics with his jerky-yet-clean style. His speed and technical prowess is remarkable, yet full of time changes and stop/start playing. His style reminds me of no one in particular, but if I had to compare him to someone it would be with Steve Hillage's playing on Arzachel or perhaps Steve Hackett's early Genesis efforts. Collina is backed up by virtuoso drummer Marco Matteuzzi, whose rhythms are non-stop action; rarely a few seconds without a fill or adding a few extra beats, and bassist Alessandro Porreca who follows Matteuzzi for the most part but goes off on his own occasionally. However, even when Porreca is following the rhythm, he's playing a fast, interesting line. Are you catching the drift yet? So far we have four exceptionally talented musicians playing non-stop classic progressive music. Now let's throw in keyboardist Luigi Ricciardello, who uses thick synth and moog backdrops, and Alessandro Bonetti on electric violin. Put together, Deux Ex Machina sounds like a lot of different bands - their influences are obvious, tasteful. I can hear hints of Area, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Tonton Macoute, Hawkwind, Crimson, and even Khan. The album is full of heady jams, fast licks, and spacy harmonies. The rhythm section is more reminiscent of Brand X (maybe not *that* virtuostic) than Hawkwind, though the overall feel is something like what you get from Space Ritual era Hawkwind, combined with Khan and maybe even Black Sabbath. Other influences seem to be Ossana and Area. So is there anything disappointing about Gladium Caeli? Of course there is - no perfect 10's in my book. The keyboards and violin aren't prominent; they are usually used for chording in the background, but do have occasional leads. The guitar dominates and drowns them out, which isn't so bad since Collina is an excellent player, but one wonders why they are there at all if rhythm is their only purpose. Also, on later songs on the album, the drummer falls back on some snare-bass pounding, as opposed to his continual riffing throughout the first 30 minutes or so. These are detractions, but I'm largely impressed with the effort as a whole (though not so overwhelmed as to forgive or forget!) In one release, Deux Ex Machina has eclipsed all but a few of the new wave of progressive artists. They've blown past Italy's best (Nuova Era, Calliope, Ezra Winston, Eris Pluvia) and are now the band to beat. If there is one new band you get into this year, this should be it. And with their second release due in less than a month, this brilliant sextet should finally have the opportunity to get the recognition they deserve.

the Tapestry of Delights:
This trio had previously been in a flower power outfit with Steve Hillage called Uriel, which ended in 1968 when Hillage went off to college. Egg's first incarnation lasted from July 1968 to May 1972 and the two albums they recorded were in the progressive mould and are now of minor interest to collectors. They were characterised by rather jazzy, esoteric music, which took extremely difficult time sequences as its basis. They also contributed two tracks, Song Of McGillicude The Pussillanimous and I Will Be Absorbed to The Nova Sampler in 1970. Dave Stewart's next outfit was Khan with Steve Hillage formed when he returned to London from college. He was later in Hatfield and The North, National Health and Bruford before 'going commercial' with a series of covers with Barbara Gaskin (ex-Spirogyra and Hatfield and The North). Clive Brooks went on to join Groundhogs and Mont Campbell was later in National Health. Egg did reform briefly in 1974 to cut the third album.

Tapestry of Delights:
A 'progressive' album, produced by Andrew Cameron Millar, which is now a major collectable and similar to Wishbone Ash. On the heavyish side, it's vastly overrated and I couldn't even recommend the recent reissue on Kissing Spell, unless you're heavily into this type of music.

the Tapestry of Delights:
A rather pedestrian heavy rock outfit who formed in Cardiff in 1968. What I've heard of their music is rather tedious and unimaginative and I can't commend them to you. Their music is highly-rated by the heavy rock fraternity, though.

Audion states that Brainticket's first Cottonwoodhill or on German CD as Brainticket" is the most psychedelic album ever released. Well, maybe, but this one drives me up a tree! The titled track sure is psychedelic and has this annoying and insistent theme that is a backdrop for swirly psychedelic effects and a woman's highly insistent voice that talks about anything from cosmic cliches to "Oh yes, and sex, I like sex!..." If I were to trip on this, I may end up jumping off of a cliff.... Their second Psychonaut is far more pleasant and an ethnic type of early German rock!

Yet another from the German space scene. I've heard half of Psychonaut the recommended starter album. Ethereal flute, other percussive instruments, and sitar help to set the mood for a cosmic journey, that's dashed with splashes of Hammond organ and nice vocals that are almost folk-like in quality. Great stuff.

Along with the Remains, the Blue Things are serious contenders for the title of the Great Lost Mid-'60s American Band. The Kansas group was extremely popular in the Midwest and Texas, but remained unknown on a national level, despite a deal with RCA. Piloted by the songwriting of singer and guitarist Val Stecklein, the group often sounded like a cross between the Byrds and the Beau Brummels with their melodic, energetic, guitar-oriented folk-rock and haunting harmonies. The group's sole album (Listen & See, 1966) and several singles chart a rapid growth from British Invasion-like material with a heavy Searchers and Buddy Holly influence to full-blown psychedelic efforts with careening guitars, organ, and backward effects. Quite innovative for the time, these 1966 psychedelic singles met with no more than regional success. The group's impetus was derailed by the departure of Stecklein at the end of 1966, although they struggled on for a bit. Stecklein went to California and recorded a disappointing MOR folk album for Dot in the late '60s that reprised some of his Blue Things songs. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

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